Long thread on the human rights situation in the #Philippines. My heart cries out for #ZaraAlvarez, for her family, her friends, her colleagues, the people she served. WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR THESE KILLINGS TO STOP? HOW MUCH MORE SORROW, GRIEF, PAIN CAN THE PEOPLE ENDURE?

The war on drugs is in fact a war on the poor and it also turns out to be a war on dissent. The poison unleashed 4 years ago has spread, devouring more people and more regions, urban and rural areas, city dwellers and poor farmers alike.

One year ago, 11 @UN_SPExperts called on the Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigation into human rights violations in the Philippines. Last June, there were 33 of us, calling yet again for an international investigation into human rights in the #Philippines

This year, we also demanded that Member States initiate, whenever possible, governmental sanctions and criminal prosecution against individual Philippine officials who have committed, incited or failed to prevent human rights abuses. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/human-rights-leader-killed-philippine-war-dissent-200818052014188.html

Zara is the most painful and saddest reminder as to why these demands must be answered. Every month that passes, every day that goes by, there is one more arbitrary killing, one more Zara, one more, one more, one more. ENOUGH.

Based on the most conservative assessment, since July 2016, 8,663 people have been killed in the war on drugs, incl. 73 children. At least 208 human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists, including 30 women, plus at least 40 legal professionals have been murdered.

In recent weeks, peasant rights advocate and peace talks consultant Randall Echanis, human right defender Zara Alvarez, and regional coordinator Jory Porquia have been murdered.

Like thousands of drug-related EJK victims who were included in a drug watch list, Echanis, Alvarez and Porquia were publicly vilified and tagged by police and military authorities as “communists” and “terrorists” before they were murdered. https://rappler.com/nation/zara-alvarez-petition-writ-amparo-habeas-data-court

Many more are under threat, including those providing assistance to poor communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been no accountability for the multiple human rights and humanitarian law violations. Independent investigations by local institutions have been thwarted.

Many in the opposition have been silenced, including Senator Leila Norma Eulalia de Lima imprisoned since 24 February 2017. The license of independent news website @rapplerdotcom suspended; its CEO @mariaressa arrested multiple times and found guilty of cyber libel.

On 5 May 2020, President Duterte’s government ordered the shut-down of ABS-CBN, the country’s largest TV and radio network, after years of explicit threats from the President in part because of its critical reporting on the “war on drugs”.

A recently adopted Anti-Terror Law provides another legal weapon to maliciously tag activists, critics and dissenters as terrorists, attack civil liberties and freedom of expression, and provide another pretext for even more Extra-Judicial Killings.

This must stop. The Human Rights Council, the international community, must act now. They must do all they can to protect all the Zara Alvarez of the Philippines, those who give their life to protect that of others. https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25999&LangID=E